ASNE - Good writing: Examples and ideas on coaching

Unprickling your newsroom's attitude

Newspaper people don't have to be nice to each other (we're journalists, after all), but communication can disappear when prickliness gets out of hand Ihave recently identified a common problem in newsrooms for coaching editors to deal with. Let's call it "Bristle Desk."

Bristle Desk takes many forms, all with the same result: people who need to communicate quickly don't communicate at all:

A copy editor tells the assistant city editor she doesn't understand the lead on a story. He replies, "I approved it, so you don't question it."
The film reviewer suggests to the features editor a way to get movie stills earlier. The editor replies, "Theater owners do that."
A department head asks for advice on handling a difficult reporter. The AME replies, "Can't you control your people? Just do your job."
The copy desk stops editing one columnist altogether because she denigrates the education of anyone who asks her a question.
The managing editor asks a reporter, "How's it going?" The writer replies, "Do you mind if I keep typing while you talk?"

Ring Lardner captured the spirit of these scenarios when he described a fed-up father dealing with a back seat full of children: "'Shut up,' he explained."

A copy editor characterized this type of low-level hostility not as bristly, but as dismissive. A sports editor then dismissed the whole concept as just part of traditional newsroom style. And there's the problem, another unthinking journalistic tradition that prevents effective teamwork.

Avoiding the bristlers

Bristle Desk defeats communication in the newsroom over time. What starts as "just the way newsrooms act" becomes an invisible habit for everybody.

Eventually, staffers stop interacting with other players altogether. They keep their lives simple by avoiding conflict. The copy desk simply deletes anything questionable rather than risk hostility by raising a question. Desk editors simply print single-source stories rather than objecting to thin reporting by prickly reporters. Reporters simply stop suggesting story ideas that always get summarily rejected. A lonely managing editor wonders why nobody ever tells her anything.

Bristle Desk becomes part of the newsroom's culture, and therefore harder to break.

Unbristling the bristly

Newsroom leaders can change cultures and destructive group habits, but such change takes time and patience. And the first step is modeling the behavior you want.

Many editors have no idea how hostile their daily exchanges sound. ("Oh, that's just journalism.") They may need to tape a few just to hear them.

One editor I sat with for a day had no idea that he shouted at everyone who walked into his office, until I taped him doing it.

The staff needs to discuss Bristle Desk openly and decide that it hurts their work and morale. Then the coaching editor can suggest building on that awareness.

Since Bristle Desk is habitual and eventually instinctive, the staff needs to retrain its unrehearsed responses.

The helpful editor can suggest a few new automatic ones, such as:

"Tell me more about that." (Especially for story ideas).
"I have to take this call, but stay right there so we can talk."
"Who else needs to hear about this?" (Good for ethics).
"How can I help you?" (Always gets good results quickly).

Old dead ways

Now don't get me wrong. I don't mean any of this in a Pollyannaish way. I don't even mean people should be nice to each other in the newsroom. (They're journalists, you know.)

I do mean that I have visited newspapers where collaboration has nearly ended because of Bristle Desk, particularly larger papers. Newsrooms nowadays need maximum collaboration, not minimal civility and certainly not mindless surliness.

Fry, an affiliate of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, is an independent writing coach in St. Petersburg, Fla. Call him at 813/866-3460.